The Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC) was established at the University of Missouri–St. Louis in September 2005. The Center emerged from the collaboration of two endowed professorships with shared commitments to character education and citizenship education.
From its beginning, CCC was designed to bring together research, practice, and leadership development to support schools, educators, and communities in fostering ethical character and active citizenship.
The Endowed Professorships
A central foundation of the CCC was the appointment of Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D., who was hired in 1998 as the inaugural Sanford N. McDonnell Endowed Professor of Character Education. This position
strengthened research and professional development in character education and played a key role inshaping the Center’s early vision.In 2004, Wolfgang Althof, D.Phil., joined UMSL as the Teresa M. Fischer Endowed Professor of Citizenship Education. His appointment added a strong focus on civic education, democratic participation, and youth engagement in public life.
The collaboration between these two endowed professors directly led to the formal creation of the CCC in 2005.
Building the Center
The CCC was built upon a broad set of resources. The two endowed professorships brought internationally recognized scholars as well as the financial stability provided by their endowed funds. A critical additional piece was Melinda Bier, Ph.D., who was already collaborating with Dr. Berkowitz on externally funded research projects and became the CCC’s Research Director.
Together, this leadership team helped shape the Center’s research agenda, partnerships, and programmatic work.
Core Programs
From its early years, the CCC supported a set of core programs that reflected its mission to connect theory with practice. These programs included:
- The Leadership Academy in Character Education (LACE)
- Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH)
- What Works in Character Education (WWCE)
- Youth Empowerment in Action (YEA!)
These initiatives engaged students, educators, and school leaders in meaningful learning experiences focused on character, citizenship, and democratic participation.
Leadership Today
Following Dr. Althof’s retirement from UMSL in 2018, Dr. Bier became Co-Director of the Center forCharacter and Citizenship. In 2023, she was named the Fischer Professor of Citizenship Education, continuing the legacy of leadership and scholarship that has shaped the Center since its founding.
Today, the CCC builds on this strong foundation as a hub for research, professional learning, and partnership in character and citizenship education.
